Tag: computer

Our bus came into Bogota late and there was no public transportation to our Couchsurfing hosts’ house. This meant we had to wait in line for 30 minutes for a taxi. No taxi driver we have had here yet has ever known where he is going. Carrie asked him, “¿Sabe donde?” “Mas o menos,” he replied. To us this meant, “I have no idea where we are going but I will drive around in circles for an hour, hope you don’t notice, and try to charge you for my mistakes.” Luckily this time we got the price up front so when he eventually did get lost he couldn´t rip us off. So after the 10 hour bus ride, 30 min waiting for a taxi, then 45 minutes driving around the city lost, we finally made it to our destination.

We woke early the next moring to check out the city. Jumped on the Bogota TransMilenio, which is a bus system that travels on its own road. It is very efficient and cheap at 1700 COP (less than $1) each, and an easy way to get downtown from anyplace. Bogotá is much more ordered with less of the amazing chaos that we loved about Medellín. The main roads are full of chain shops and car dealerships, sidewalks packed with men in suits reading the daily news. The first thing we needed was food since we haden´t eaten dinner the night before. In our Lonely Planet guide book (which has been very unreliable thus far…more on that later) we found a vegetarian restauraunt called Quinoa y Amaranto that we wanted to try. We wandered through La Candelaria which is very European with its skinny streets, although all the buildings are different colors which gives it that Latin vibe. Eventually we found the resuraunt. You walk into a small room with a cash register and behind it a small four-burner stove that they cook everything on. In the corner is a spiral staircase and you climb that and eat upstairs. They had a set lunch for 12,000 COP which included soup, juice, spinich pasta with pesto, a mushroom salad, and bowl of cherry jelly sauce for dessert. Muy delicioso! Not very Latin, but the best meal we have had thus far.

La Candelaria

With our stomachs full, we walked to the bottom of the hill overlooking the city and took the cable car to the top. At the summit was Monserrate, a beautiful cathedral overlooking the capital city. The trip was expensive and the car was full of gringos, but it was well worth it for the view. The whole city was there before you, with clouds casting shadows and rain in the distance. We were happy to have a safe spot to break out the cameras and shoot some footage for the film.

I’m going to sit down (again) this evening and take another stab at creating some animations in Flash for our awesome Pitch/Trailer that Carrie is putting together. I learned Flash Animation in one of the classes I took in college (sophomore year, which is now…4 YEARS AGO!! Whaat!) I’m starting with some tutorials on youtube and going from there. Hopefully with a little more time and effort it will come back to me. It seems crazy to me that it is proving to be difficult – now I know how my parents feel when they sit down at the computer! 😉

Okay. I’ve got the tech problems figured out (*knock on wood*). Enough time has passed since I really sat down and worked for several hours that I am ready and willing to do it again. For real this time, for the win! And I’ve got a whole boyfriend-less Saturday to sit down, distraction-free, and edit my little heart out. I’m pumped. Major trailer progress report coming Monday!!!!!!

P.S. Does anyone know any great websites where I can get royalty-free photos? We need some for the trailer and we’re poor but we want to be legal. Specifically photos of South America…people, places, travel, landscape, etc. Comment at me if you do!

—UPDATE 3/11/11: I found the solution! Of couse it involved converting my video to every possible codec until something magically worked! Now I just have to find time to sit down and actually edit the thing! Soon, soon, I promise!!—

Yes, I realize it’s the last day of February. The trailer is supposed to be done. Is it? No. I think “technical difficulties” is the worst phrase in the world for a video editor. But alas, those are what I am dealing with. I should have known that some problems would occur since I’m using my brand new equipment for the first time and working out the kinks. Guess it’s best to get these problems out of the way before we shoot the actual film, right? Also, we decided to move the launch of our kickstarter campaign back to April, so it’s not actually critical to have the trailer done right now. But, rest assured, I will not be defeated by a software program! I am riding bravely into the tech support battlefield and will have the trailer finished ASAP!!!!

As for the other goals for February, I did study my Spanish quite a bit! Hooray for that!